Gigabyte Z87X-OC Review

Unigine Heaven

With differences measured in mere tenths of a frame the Unigine Heaven results continue the trend. However if there is a point to note it's that the Gigabyte Z87X-OC is consistently a tenth of a frame ahead of the rest. Useful for the world record hunters amongst you.

Disappointed you didn't cover RAM voltages. I've read in other reviews how many manufacturers (except Asus) don't accurately report RAM voltages in the BIOS. I was wondering fi this board is the same?
Also I believe they dropped the high end audio they've used on some of their OC boards in the past. I see no mention of anything audio related in the review.

The board also annoys me that I'd be paying all that money and if I put it in a case I can't use it. For example the PCI bracket, the overclocking buttons and the internal external USB ports. Would rather it was cheaper and didn't have these. They could make a "Z87X-OC TestBench" version for those that want to use it on a test bench and give the rest of use the other features at a lower price tag.

It's also a little disappointing that they went with a black PCB. They used to be rare, but have become more common in recent times. Pity Gigabyte didn't try to be different and come up with something new, if they're trying something new with could schemes.

That said this board is on my very short shortlist of Z87 boards (along with the Asus Z87 Maximus VI Gene and Hero boards) so it's good to know that it's ok.Quote

Disappointed you didn't cover RAM voltages. I've read in other reviews how many manufacturers (except Asus) don't accurately report RAM voltages in the BIOS. I was wondering fi this board is the same?

If we haven't mentioned it you can assume it's fine.

Quote:

Also I believe they dropped the high end audio they've used on some of their OC boards in the past. I see no mention of anything audio related in the review.

There is only one previous OC board, the X58. That used the ALC889 codec, this uses the ALC892. Everything uses the ALC892 which we mentioned in the technical specifications and is so ubiquitous that further mention (when there are many other features) was pointless.

Quote:

The board also annoys me that I'd be paying all that money and if I put it in a case I can't use it. For example the PCI bracket, the overclocking buttons and the internal external USB ports. Would rather it was cheaper and didn't have these. They could make a "Z87X-OC TestBench" version for those that want to use it on a test bench and give the rest of use the other features at a lower price tag.

Rather nit-picky. Sure you don't use the bracket in a case, but as this is the same price as all the mid-price boards that don't come with one then it's not costing any more. The buttons exist on nearly every motherboard (as power/reset ones at minimum) and yet nobody complains. Again it's not costing more so if you don't use them, ignore them. The internal USB ports were mentioned and explained that if you have a front panel device that utilises USB then it's a compact and simple to use solution.

You're implying that these features somehow make the board expensive, whereas it costs the same as most and so these elements aren't impacting the cost.

Quote:

It's also a little disappointing that they went with a black PCB. They used to be rare, but have become more common in recent times. Pity Gigabyte didn't try to be different and come up with something new, if they're trying something new with could schemes.

That said this board is on my very short shortlist of Z87 boards (along with the Asus Z87 Maximus VI Gene and Hero boards) so it's good to know that it's ok.

I'm so glad you're annoyed that Gigabyte use a black PCB on a black and orange motherboard. It's especially nice to see that the black PCB on all the ASUS motherboards don't dissuade you. Nothing like impartiality. Surely a blue PCB with black and orange plastic would be worse..?Quote

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